DUBAI: Omaima Sohail loves to bowl. By her own admission, she loves doing it even more against Sri Lanka. Take for example her best-ever T20I spell. It came against Chamari Athapaththu's side at Sylhet during the Asia Cup in 2022 where she took five wickets was one of the best days of her life. Looking at the recent edition of Asia Cup, this time hosted in Sri Lanka, Sohail found her mojo again, but Pakistan fell short in the semi-final. So come the T20 World Cup, captain Fatima Sana knew the all-rounder was up for the task.
"In a T20, you have to be involved in the game every minute," Sohail told this daily. "And Sri Lanka have a lot of left-handers in their squad so, in my mind, I keep thinking whenever I get the opportunity, I want to be my best self for the team. Left-handers usually are susceptible against the off-spinners so I had my advantage in that match-up," Sohail added.
While having a skill is one thing, what makes Sohail different is the capacity she has to put those skills into use when her team needs her the most. On Thursday, when Pakistan struggled to put on big runs in the first innings, their young captain was under pressure to utilise her bowlers to register a win. Just as the powerplay was ending Sohail came into attack. Even with Athapaththu already in the dugout by that time, Pakistan could not afford to be loose. Sohail knew her task and with Harshitha Samarawickrama, a left-hander, and one of the dangerous batters for Sri Lanka in the middle, she had one task — get a breakthrough. With her fifth ball of the World Cup, Sohail had done her job. She let out a roar and Pakistan were in control.
For someone who wanted to be a pacer and was told to switch to off-spin early in her career, this mastery over the skills is special. And it was her school coach named 'Sir Musharraf', who found out the talent. "I used to play at school level. And one of the teachers, Sir Musharraf, who was a school coach and badminton coach as well, saw me batting once and told me that I should play for the girl’s cricket team. I did not have any idea that there was something like women’s cricket teams, I used to play in the streets with boys. I was as unaware as I could be but he helped me out through all of this. Even today, I practice with him," Sohail mentioned.
The 27-year-old credits the under-age cricket in Pakistan with helping in her early days. The mix of enjoyment and responsibilities taught her that nothing is permanent if the work is put. "I have played in the U19 championship for 2/3 years. I have played at the U21 level and also at U23 as well. At this level, usually, the enjoyment factor is always there, but the responsibility eventually comes on your shoulders. You have to take wickets and score runs at that level, but eventually, you learn a lot of responsibilities. I think that phase was ideal for me because I have equally enjoyed and taken responsibility there."
In all of the ups and downs she has seen in her career, Sohail's family has been of great support. "Family, especially my father, has been the backbone of my journey. They keep the checks and balances of what I do in the match. My father used to drive me to the ground and back and he used to stay there the whole time so he could see how I was doing," she gets emotional talking about the support.
When asked if she had any wish list heading into the World Cup about the wickets she wanted to take, Sohail kept cards close to her heart. Maybe Samarawickrama and Hasini Perera were on that list. "Our group is very competitive and there are going to be close matches there. I have targeted a few players from all of the teams in that group and I hope I get those," she chuckled while answering the question.
When the schedule for the T20 World Cup came in before it was moved to UAE from Bangladesh, the fixture between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was supposed to be played in Sylhet, the place of Sohail's personal triumph. However, in Sharjah, with her two wickets, she made sure Pakistan gets over the line and maybe it was meant to be.